


The Kind of Lies

by artifactstorageroom3_archivist



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-05-17
Updated: 2009-05-17
Packaged: 2019-06-13 03:20:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15355083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artifactstorageroom3_archivist/pseuds/artifactstorageroom3_archivist
Summary: Jim finds out how much that doggy in the window is





	The Kind of Lies

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Elaine, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Artifact Storage Room 3](https://fanlore.org/wiki/Artifact_Storage_Room_3) and was moved to the AO3 as part of the Open Doors project in 2018. I tried to reach out to all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are the creator and would like to claim this work, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Artifact Storage Room 3’s collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/artifactstorageroom3/profile).
> 
>  **Author's notes:** This was written in response to sentinel_thurs challenge #289- “Pet”   
>        

Jim did not know what the hell he was doing. He really didn’t. Oh, he knew what he should be doing. He should be turning himself right around and heading in the opposite direction. He should be at the grocery store picking up the fixings for tonight’s supper. He should be doing anything other than committing himself to a few years worth of babysitting and aggravation.

But, well, he wasn’t doing that now was he? No, no he wasn’t. The question being, if he wasn’t doing what he was supposed to be doing, was he necessarily doing something he shouldn’t be doing?

Oh for the days when that sort of question never crossed his mind. The BC days as Megan liked to call them. “Before Chief.” Though how the hell Connor could comment on that, Jim didn’t know. She met both of them on the same day, and they’d been partners long before that so…

Okay, enough procrastination.

Briskly, Jim rapped his knuckles on the faded green door. A kindly, rounded face peeked out the door at him. The woman adjusted her glasses and squinted. Then, when she recognized where she had seen Jim from, she started beaming at him.

“Why you’re that young man from the fair.”

Jim nodded and smiled as he shifted his weight from foot to foot, “Yes, Ma’am, I am.”

“Well heavens, if I’d known it was you, I wouldn’t have given Emme such a hard time when I saw your application. ‘Give him a chance,’ she’d said. Bah, it’s going to kill me to admit that she was right. She’ll never let me hear the end of it you know,” the woman nattered on as she ushered Jim through the front door.

Jim nodded abstractedly as he followed the lady into her kitchen.

“I can’t tell you how happy that you’ve come here. Sadie has just been beside herself since the fair. She just sits in her dog bed and sulks. She’s been biddable and quiet too, that just isn’t like her, you know? She’s quite the handful. That’s one of the reasons that I was so against your application. Dogs like her need to be walked. Especially when they live in apartments, Mr. Ellison. But, of course, you obviously work out so I don’t think that will be a problem for you or your young man,” the lady said as she stopped to eye Jim speculatively.

He smiled vaguely at her and tried to ignore the uncomfortable feeling of being checked out by a woman who was older than his own father.

“Sadie,” she called out in a sing-song voice when it became apparent that Jim was not going to respond any further.

A morose looking head poked around a doorway that Jim presumed lead to another area of the house.

“Sadie, come here, it’s that nice man from the park,” the lady cajoled.

Obediently, the dog slunk out on to the linoleum and came to sit almost deathly still at the woman’s feet. Jim doubted that the posture was to the dog’s best advantage, but then again, he wasn’t exactly a keen connoisseur of canine beauty. A dog was a dog really. But Sandburg… Sandburg had ranted and raved about her pretty blue eyes and shiny black and white coat when they had stopped by the Dalmatian rescue booth at the community fair. When Jim had not so subtly hinted that it was time to move on, Blair had merely waved at him to go on without him.

Jim, needless to say, had had a terrible day at the fair after that. Roaming around by yourself was no fun at all, but there was no way that he was going to admit that to his partner. When he finally caved and went looking for Sandburg an hour later, it was depressingly easy to find the other man. He’d graduated to actually sitting in the tent with one of the people running the booth, and the large Dalmatian had been staring adoringly at him with her large, blue eyes.

When Jim had forced them to part company, he’d had to listen to the dog’s pitiful howls all the way back to the truck. Blair hadn’t done anything quite so pathetic. To the contrary, he had chirped and talked about this and that as he always did, so Jim didn’t really notice anything different about his partner until he had turned around to ask the other man a question.

Sandburg had looked like a five-year-old trying manfully to be a big boy - complete with watery eyes and pouty lip.

If Jim was honest, he’d known at that very moment that he was screwed. At least concerning the dog. He had the sneaking suspicion that he’d been screwed where Sandburg was concerned for a long time now.

“She isn’t normally like this,” the woman fretted when she noticed that Jim was staring at the dog with a slight frown upon his face.

“We all have off days,” Jim said as he reached into his coat pocket to pull out his wallet. He hoped that that was the sort of platitude that a prospective dog owner would spout.

“I’m sure you’re right, of course. And I’m certain she’ll perk right up when she sees your…” she trailed off with an uprising note to her voice not so subtly asking about Blair.

“Partner,” Jim supplied not really caring how she chose to interpret his response.

Her smile faltered a bit, but then regained strength. “Your partner, yes. He was such a nice young man the other day.”

“Blair is very personable,” Jim agreed silently hoping that the lady would just finish her prodding and get it over with already. The rescue society lady that he had talked to on the phone had been so much nicer. The man that had visited the loft and checked Jim’s references had been downright enthusiastic. This woman though, she seemed to be losing her glow by the second. Normally Jim wouldn’t care, but this was for Blair, and if he didn’t pass the final interview with the ‘foster mother’ Blair wasn’t going to get the dog.

“I’m a police detective; Mr. Sandburg is my partner. His old place was destroyed in an incident, and now he rents from me,” Jim clarified with a large dose of affected embarrassment. He hoped that it was coming across like a straight man trying to manfully correct the woman’s obviously wrong assumptions. With his luck though, he was probably just portraying somebody who was constipated.

“Oh,” the woman’s face brightened up, “I see. But, what will you do when Mr. Sandburg moves out? Sadie needs a stable home.”

“Blair doesn’t have any plans to move out for the next few years. He’s working on his degree, uh, part time. Between his studies and my work schedule, neither one of us is looking for a serious girlfriend, but between the two of us, we’re home enough to take good care of Sadie.”

“Well, I guess that Emme and Steve asked you everything else. If you sign this form here, I’ll go get Sadie’s things together,” the woman said as she pushed a couple papers at Jim and walked briskly away.

Jim scribbled his name in the appropriate places and placed the forms back on the kitchen counter along with the check that he had brought with. Glancing down, he saw Sadie’s blue eyes staring up at him.

“Don’t even try,” Jim warned her.

Her tail started wagging manically in response, and she started making little snorting noises through her nose.

“No,” Jim stated firmly.

Sadie huffed and looked over at the doorway that the woman had disappeared out of. Surprised that his own hearing hadn’t picked up the woman’s return, Jim cocked his head to the side and listened for the footsteps that Sadie had apparently heard.

It wasn’t until he felt his hand being bathed with dog spit that he realized that he’d been had.

“Damn fireman’s dog,” he grumbled as he tried to wipe his hand against his pants while Sadie continued to try to lick at him in order to get him to pet her.

“Here you go detective,” the woman announced just as Jim discovered that Sadie, for being a well trained dog, was irrepressibly stubborn about getting her way.

Desperate to be gone, Jim quickly grabbed the leash and clipped it on Sadie’s collar. He hastily stuffed the vaccination records into his inside coat pocket, and snatched up the bag of dog food that the rescue society gave out with every adoption.

“If you have any questions, feel free to call,” the woman called out as Jim headed out the door and back to his truck.

Neither he nor Sadie looked back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Blair frowned and glanced up from his textbook when he heard the telltale scrape of a key being placed in the lock of the front door. Jim was supposed to be out grocery shopping for Blair’s birthday dinner. He distinctly remembered being promised an angel food cake from the bakery across town and lobster from the fresh fish market. There was no way that Jim should’ve been able to accomplish the shopping that quickly unless he had turned his sirens on.

Still, it was Jim’s face that appeared when the door cracked open.

“Hi, Chief,” he greeted.

“Jim, why are you home, and why aren’t you actually coming inside?” Blair asked suspiciously.

“I’ll tell you soon, I promise. But first, I want you to know one thing and promise me something else.”

Blair’s eyes narrowed as his suspicion deepened, but he nodded anyway.

“First, I want you to know that I did think about this, and I did this for you,” Jim announced hesitantly.

“Jim,” Blair huffed in exasperation. Coy games were not Jim’s normal style, and it was irritating to see the older man employing them.

“Second,” Jim said as he pushed the door all the way open, “I want you to promise me that you’ll name her something other than ‘Sadie.’”

Blair’s eyes grew wide as he pulled his glasses off of his face and point blank stared at the black and white dog sitting impatiently beside Jim. Her tail was wagging frantically and her front paws were making little tapping noises as she shifted her weight back and forth.

Seeing the expression on Blair’s face, Jim let go of the leash, and in seconds their new family member was happily reacquainting Blair’s five o’clock shadow with dog slobber.

Jim followed after her at a more sedate pace, but was no less enthusiastic when he bent down to place his own kiss on the young anthropologist.

“You have no idea the kind of lies I just told for you,” he said fondly.

 “Yeah? Well, happy birthday to me,” Blair said as hugged his dog gently before leaning up and placing another quick kiss against his partner’s lips.

 


End file.
